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This page is a collection of links to reports and media
articles about Employment Insurance (EI).
Except for the first part of this page (the yellow boxes below), links are
more or less in reverse chronological order.

The links in the yellow box below are to the "official"
EI program sub-site on the ESDC website and the latest EI Monitoring Assessment
Report, and the rest of this page comprises links to a selection of related
articles and reports from various other sources.

---
NOTE: The Department's name changed to Employment and Social Development
Canada in July 2013.
Some of the links below may change in the coming months as the Department's
website is updated.
---

Employment Insurance
[ http://www.esdc.gc.ca/eng/jobs/ei/index.shtml
]
The EI program provides temporary financial assistance for individuals
between jobs, who cannot work due to sickness, childbirth or parenting,
and for those providing care to a family member who is gravely ill.

December 15Pension Satellite Account, 2016http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/171215/dq171215d-eng.htm
Pension wealth rose 3.8% to $3,603 billion by the end of 2016, following
a 5.1% gain in 2015. This was the eighth consecutive year that pension wealth
increased. All three pension tiers (social security plans, employer-based
pension plans and individual registered savings plans) posted gains in wealth
in 2016

Executive Summary
1.Introduction
2.Why Social Partners are Involved with Employment Programming in Any Country
3. International Experience with Social Partner Engagement
4. A Short History of Canadas Support Programs for the Unemployed
5. Historical Business and Labour Influence over Canadas Programs
for the Unemployed
6. Why is Business and Labour Involvement in Employment Matters in Canada
Important?
7. Why has Business and Labour Engagement in Employment Programs in Canada
Diminished?
8. Conclusion
(...)
This paper looks at how  over time  federal governments of all
political stripes have been able
to assert control or expropriate unemployment insurance from
Canadian employers and workers
by transforming and even eliminating the institutions set up to ensure business-labour-government

November 16, 2016Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2015http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/161116/dq161116b-eng.htm
The eligibility rate for receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
was 82.8% in 2015, little changed from 83.1% in 2014. In all, 848,000 unemployed
people contributed to the EI program in 2015, as they paid premiums in the
12 months preceding their unemployment spell. This represented 65.3% of
all unemployed, the largest share since 2009. From 2014 to 2015, the proportion
of unemployed people who contributed to the EI program rose by 4.3 percentage
points, largely reflecting an increase in the number of unemployed people
who had worked in the previous 12 months.

October 20, 2016Study: International students in Canadian Universities, 2004/2005
to 2013/2014http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/161020/dq161020e-eng.htmThe international student population at Canadian
universities almost doubled in the decade from 2004/2005 to 2013/2014, rising
from 66,000 students to 124,000. In 2013/2014, international students represented
11% of all students on Canadian campuses, up from 7% in 2004/2005.To put this growth in perspective, the international
student population at Canadian universities grew 88% from 2004/2005 to 2013/2014,
while the comparable growth rate for Canadian students was 22%.

August 11, 2016Job Vacancy and Wage Survey, First quarter 2016http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/160811/dq160811a-eng.htm
Job vacancy rate declines in most provinces and territories
From the first quarter of 2015 to the first quarter of 2016, the job vacancy
rate declined in nine provinces and two territories, with the largest decreases
occurring in Alberta and Saskatchewan. At the same time, the job vacancy
rate increased in Nunavut, and was little changed in New Brunswick. The
job vacancy rate refers to the share of jobs that are unfilled out of all
payroll jobs available. It represents the number of job vacancies expressed
as a percentage of labour demand, that is, the sum of all occupied and vacant
jobs.

Consulting with Canadians - Employment
Insurance Service Quality Reviewhttp://www.esdc.gc.ca/en/consultations/ei/service_quality_review.pageMay 2016
About this consultation:
Millions of Canadians rely on the Government of Canada to provide them with
easy access to the services and benefits to which they are entitled. They
expect quality and fast service from their governmentwhether the service
is provided online, over the phone or in person. According to Service Canada
data, too many Canadians are not receiving the level of service they expect.

How to Participate in the consultation:
Click the link above, then (on the next page) scroll down for information
to help you to share your views online (before August 31, 2016) or send
your comments via email or attend a town hall meeting.

Federal government launches Employment
Insurance services reviewhttp://goo.gl/4jZsy6
May 12, 2016
The Government of Canada launches consultation to improve Employment Insurance
services - Parliamentary Secretaries, Member of Parliament lead EI Service
Quality Review
OTTAWA, May 12, 2016 /CNW/ - Millions of Canadians rely on the Government
of Canada to provide them with easy access to the services and benefits
to which they are entitled. They expect quality and fast service from their
governmentwhether the service is provided online, over the phone or
in person. According to Service Canada data, too many Canadians are not
receiving the level of service they expect. When someone loses a job through
no fault of their own or experiences a major life event, they should not
have to wait weeks, even months, to receive support and benefits from a
program that they paid premiums for as workers. The Government must make
it easier for them to access these services and programs.

November 23, 2015
Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2014http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/151123/dq151123b-eng.htm
The rate of eligibility for receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI)
benefits was 83.1% in 2014, down from 85.8% in 2013, but in line with the
83.0% average seen over the previous 10 years. The decline in 2014 was most
notable among youths aged 15 to 24 and men of all ages. To be eligible to
receive regular benefits, unemployed individuals must have contributed to
the EI program, met the criteria for job separation and accumulated enough
insurable hours.

April 21, 2015Job vacancies in brief, three-month average ending in January 2015http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150421/dq150421b-eng.htm
Canadian businesses reported 225,000 job vacancies in January, up 33,000
compared with January 2014. For every job vacancy, there were 5.5 unemployed
people, down from 6.8 the same month one year earlier. This decline in the
ratio was the result of both fewer unemployed people and more job vacancies.

March 19, 2015Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2013http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150319/dq150319d-eng.htm
The Employment Insurance Coverage Survey provides a meaningful picture of
who does or does not have access to EI benefits among the jobless and those
in a situation of underemployment. The survey also covers access to maternity
and parental benefits.

The public use microdata files from the Employment Insurance
Coverage Survey are now available for 2013.

March 17, 2015Job vacancies, three-month average ending in December 2014http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150317/dq150317b-eng.htm
Canadian businesses reported 233,000 job vacancies in December, up 30,000
compared with 12 months earlier. For every job vacancy, there were 5.0 unemployed
people, down from 6.2 in December 2013. This decline in the ratio was the
result of both fewer unemployed people and more job vacancies.

January 19, 2015Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2013http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/150119/dq150119b-eng.htmThe rate of eligibility for receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI)
benefits in 2013 was 85.8%, up from 81.9% in 2012. To be eligible to receive
regular benefits, unemployed individuals must have contributed to the EI
program, met the criteria for job separation and accumulated enough insurable
hours
(For more qualitative info, click the link above and scroll down to "Note
to readers").

Job Numbers Surprisehttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2014/10/10/job-numbers-surprise/By Angella MacEwen
October 10, 2014
For the first time in a while, Statistics Canada gives us some good news
on the job front. 74,000 net new jobs added in September, certainly nothing
to sneeze at. Still, we would need to keep this pace up every month for
the next year to close the employment gap left by the last recession.

Response on the financing of Employment
Insurance and recent measures (PDF - 304K, 10 pages)http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/EI_response_EN.pdf
October 9, 2014
A number of concerns surrounding the Employment Insurance program have been
communicated to PBO by Members of Parliament.

This report answers the following questions
on EI administration:
Question 1: How far above forecast break-even rates are legislated
EI premium rates in 2015 and 2016?
Question 2: How much extra revenue does this contribute to the
budget outlook?
Question 3: What is the job impact of the Small Business Job
Credit and the EI premium rate freeze?
Question 4: Why has access to employment insurance fallen?
Question 5: By how much could access or benefits be increased
at current EI premium rates while keeping the account in balance?
Question 6: What was the cost of the Canadian Employment Insurance
Financing Board?

Related links from the PBO:

Fiscal Sustainability Report 2014http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/FSR_2014.pdf
September 30, 2014
This report provides an assessment of the long-term sustainability of government
finances for three government sub-sectors: the federal government; subnational
governments consisting of provinces, territories, local, and aboriginal
governments; and the Canada and Quebec Pension Plans.

Expenditure Monitor: 2014-15 Q1 (PDF
- 340K, 10 pages)http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/Expenditure_Monitor_2014_15Q1_EN.pdf
September 25, 2014
This note presents detailed analysis of Government spending for the first
three months of the fiscal year, highlighting the success of ongoing spending
restraint and implementation of the fiscal and economic plan presented in
Budget 2014.

Source:
Parliamentary Budget Officer http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/
The mandate of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) is to provide independent
analysis to Parliament on the state of the nations finances, the governments
estimates and trends in the Canadian economy; and upon request from a committee
or parliamentarian, to estimate the financial cost of any proposal for matters
over which Parliament has jurisdiction.

Northerners stand to lose $7M with new
EI changeshttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/northerners-stand-to-lose-7m-with-new-ei-changes-1.2795805
Changes that divide each territory into 2 labour market zones take effect
Sunday
October 10, 2014
Northern residents may lose more than $7 million in employment insurance
benefits with changes to EI rules coming into effect this weekend. The changes
take effect Sunday and affect Yukon, N.W.T., Nunavut and Prince Edward Island.

Pricey EI rate cut will yield only 800
jobs: PBO report
Canadian Federation of Independent Business says it lobbied for EI measures
after government "gutted" temporary foreign workers program.http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/pricey-ei-rate-cut-will-yield-only-800-jobs-pbo-report-1.2793591
By Louise Elliott
October 9, 2014
It was touted as a job-creator in a tough job market, but new evidence suggests
the Conservative plan to cut Employment Insurance premiums for small business
won't achieve its stated goal of making it easier for employers to hire
new workers. And the head of a key lobby group acknowledges the decision
by the government may be linked to other political considerations. In a
new report, the parliamentary budget officer, Jean-Denis Fréchette,
says the small business job credit announced last month by Finance Minister
Joe Oliver would generate only 800 new jobs over two years  200 new
full-time equivalent jobs in 2015 and 600 new jobs in 2016.

Tories using Employment Insurance to
pad books by $5 billion, report sayshttp://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/1242520-tories-using-ei-to-pad-books-by-5-billion-report-saysBy Paul Mcleod
October 9, 2014
OTTAWA  Artificially high employment insurance premiums will cost
thousands of jobs while temporarily padding Ottawas books by billions
of dollars, according to a new report by Canadas financial watchdog.
The Conservative government already knew it was facing an EI fund surplus
and will lower premiums for some employers through the small business job
credit. Parliamentary budget officer Jean-Denis Frechette found the credit
will create only 200 jobs next year and 600 in 2016. But keeping premiums
artificially high will cost 2,000 jobs next year and 8,000 jobs in 2016,
Frechette found.

Does employment insurance really help those
its intended to, or is the system in need of an overhaul? If
someone asks me what the problem is with EI, I say how long do you have?
saidMatthew Mendelsohn, the founding
director of the Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation.

He was joined on BNN by Armine
Yalnizyan, a senior economist at the Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives, and Arthur Sweetman, an
economics professor at McMaster University to get the bottom this highly
contentious issue.

Heres a list of the top three problems
our panelists have with the EI system.
#1. Since its a federally mandated program, all Canadians are treated
equally.
#2. When the number of people receiving EI decreases it DOES NOT mean employment
is increasing.
#3. The EI system was designed for the modern labour economy.

NOTE: The above link ("Three reasons...")
includes a video (duration 7:51) of the panel discussion, with more info
on each of the three reasons why Employment Insurance is broken.

Supplementary Measures of Unemployment in Canada
HTML version :http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2013-14-e.htm
PDF version (427K, 8 pages) : http://www.parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2013-14-e.pdf
By Emmanuel Preville
6 March 2013
(...) The official unemployment rate is the standard measure of what constitutes
unemployment. But other dimensions of the labour market can be explored
by analyzing supplementary rates. Data on subpopulations such as involuntary
part-timers and discouraged searchers provide a broader understanding of
the state of the labour market. Contents:
1 Introduction
2 The Official Unemployment Rate and Supplementary Unemployment Rates
3 Long-Term Unemployment
4 Non-Participants and Hidden Unemployment
5 Total Underutilization
6 International Unemployment Indicators
7 Conclusion

Flahertys Funny Math with the Employment Insurance
Surplushttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2013/12/06/flahertys-funny-math-with-the-ei-surplus/By Angella MacEwen
December 6, 2013
The Parliamentary Budget Office has come out with a report [see the next
two links below] suggesting that the Conservatives will likely balance the
budget ahead of schedule. But, and its a big but, if there were no
EI surplus, there would be no balanced budget in 2016. And the annual surplus
in the EI Operating Account is no small potatoes  its forecast
to be at least $3.5 Billion in 2014. But this forecast is based on an EI
coverage rate of 41%, and recently its been more like 38%, meaning
the 2014 EI surplus will probably end up being over $4 Billion.

---

Related links from the
Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO):

Revised PBO Outlook and Assessment of
the 2013 Update of Economic and Fiscal
Projections (PDF - 796K, 16 pages) http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/Revised_EFOU_2013.pdf
]
December 5, 2013
Following the publication of PBOs Economic and Fiscal Outlook Update
2013, Finance Canada released its 2013 Update of Economic and Fiscal Projections.
This report updates PBOs economic and fiscal outlook to include recent
policy decisions and the updated Public Accounts of Canada 2013. This report
also compares Finance Canadas projections with PBOs and discusses
the assumptions and methodologies that drive their similarities and differences.

Source:
Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO)
http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/
The mandate of the Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) is to provide independent
analysis to Parliament on the state of the nations finances, the governments
estimates and trends in the Canadian economy; and upon request from a committee
or parliamentarian, to estimate the financial cost of any proposal for matters
over which Parliament has jurisdiction.

November 15, 2013 Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2012http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/131115/dq131115b-eng.htmThe rate of eligibility for receiving regular Employment Insurance
benefits in 2012 was 81.9%, up from 78.4% in 2011 and similar to rates observed
prior to the 2008-2009 recession.
- includes links to four tables:
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits,
Canada, 2012
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits
by sex, Canada, 2012
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits,
by age group, Canada, 2012
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits,
by province, 2012

October 22, 2013 Job vacancies in brief, three-month average ending in July 2013http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/131022/dq131022b-eng.htm
In July, there were 210,000 job vacancies among Canadian businesses, down
54,000 from July 2012. There were 6.5 unemployed people for every job vacancy,
up from 5.2 one year earlier. The increase in the ratio of unemployment
to job vacancies was all the result of the decline in job vacancies. The
national job vacancy rate was 1.4% in July, down from 1.8% 12 months earlier.

No Widespread Labour Shortage, widespread information
gaps.http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2013/10/24/no-widespread-labour-shortage-widespread-information-gaps/By Angella MacEwen
October 24, 2013 A TD Economics Special Report released in October 2013 [ (PDF) :
http://goo.gl/O21yOP ] debunked the popular
economic myth spread by Minister Kenney that there are too many jobs without
people [ http://goo.gl/gTXqiJ ] . The
report looks at changes in employment, unemployment, job vacancy rates,
and wages. Job vacancy rates are higher for trades occupations in Western
Canada, but overall job vacancy rates are low.
(...)
Highlighting the inadequacy of current labour market information, the most
recent data on job vacancies was released by Statistics Canada on the same
day. It tells us that nationally there are 6.5 unemployed persons for every
job vacancy.

Unemployment is higher than you think.http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2013/09/18/unemployment-is-higher-than-you-think/By Angella MacEwen
September 18, 2013
Every month, Statistics Canada comes out with the unemployment rate, and
every month it gets a lot of attention. But the unemployment rate provides
quite limited information about the actual health of the labour market.
The addition of two other pieces of information nearly doubles the unemployment
rate: the proportion of the labour market employed part-time but looking
for more work, and the proportion that would like a job but arent
actively looking for work, and so arent officially counted as being
in the labour market.

July 5, 2013Labour Force Survey, June 2013http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/130705/dq130705a-eng.htm
In June, employment was virtually unchanged and the unemployment rate remained
at 7.1%. In the first half of 2013, employment growth averaged 14,000 per
month, slower than the average of 27,000 in the last six months of 2012.

No News is Bad News for Canadas Job Markethttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2013/07/05/no-news-is-bad-news-for-canadas-job-market/
By Erin Weir
July 5, 2013 (incl. July 7 update + more related links)
Todays job numbers are remarkably similar to last months figures.
Total employment as well as employment in most sectors and industries was
virtually unchanged. Stagnation is bad news given our growing population
and that 1.4 million Canadians remain unemployed.

The History of Unemployment Insurance (1940
to 1993)http://web.archive.org/web/20020804170133/http://www.hrdc-drhc.gc.ca/ae-ei/hist/history_of_unemployment_insurance.shtml
Excerpt/paraphrase from the Foreword:
This book is a general account of legislative and program changes
to the Canadian Unemployment Insurance program from 1940 to 1993.
While it contains considerable detail, it does not attempt to list
every regulatory change or operational innovation. It is meant to
help people understand the history of the program, as well as the
social, economic and policy forces that have helped shape UI. This
book builds on A Chronology of Response: The Evolution of Unemployment
Insurance from 1940 to 1980.
(...)
In 1993, the Department of Human Resources Development, which had
assumed responsibility for UI as a result of a federal departmental
reorganization, decided to update and reissue the history to also
include UI developments from 1980 to 1993.
Recommended reading for UI/EI historians!

Historical and contextual
information on Unemployment Insurance / Employment Insurance
- this link takes you further down on the page you're now reading,
where you'll find some historical nuggets among the CBC Digital
Archives TV clips on unemployment and (Un)Employment Insurance,
some going back over half a century. You'll also find links to selected
key documents in the evolution of (un)employment insurance in Canada,
such as:* the 1962 Report of the Commission of
Inquiry on the Unemployment Insurance Act (chaired by Ernest
C. Gill),
* the 1986 Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Unemployment
Insurance (chaired by Claude Forget),
* papers/articles on EI by Richard Shillington (on EI coverage),
the [Ontario] Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age
Adults, the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, Statistics Canada
and more...

---

Employment Insurance: Ten Changes in
20122013http://parl.gc.ca/Content/LOP/ResearchPublications/2013-03-e.htm
By André Léonard, Social Affairs Division
23 January 2013Contents:
For each of the following ten changes, this report presents:
* a description of the change
* a rationale for the change
* criticism of the change

TIP : Scroll to the last
section of the report for links to 40 related documents.

From the
Toronto Star:

Employment Insurance cuts are another
blow to the jobless : A cut in employment insurance benefits, buried in
last years massive omnibus federal budget bill, took effect Sunday.
Thousands will be hurt.http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2013/04/10/ei_cuts_are_another_blow_to_the_jobless_goar.html
By Carol Goar
April 10, 2013
Just when it seemed safe to put Jim Flahertys surprise-loaded 2012
budget behind us, it delivered a nasty aftershock. Labour activists knew
it was coming, but most Canadians didnt. Buried in last springs
425-page omnibus budget legislation was a change in employment insurance
(EI) rules that will hurt thousands of laid-off workers. It took effect
on April 7.

Unions and community groups pleaded with the
government not to implement the measure. They failed. So last Sunday, employment
insurance benefits in two-thirds of the country were quietly reduced. Existing
recipients were spared but new EI claimants  starting with the 54,500
workers who lost their jobs in March  will be subject to tougher rules.
Most will get less support.

Thousands rally against federal government's
Employment Insurance reform:
People in Quebec, Ottawa and New Brunswick protest for a common causehttp://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2013/02/23/quebec-employment-insurance-protests.html
February 23, 2013
Thousands of protesters across the province of Quebec, in Ottawa and in
Tracadie, N.B., took part in demonstrations denouncing the government's
employment insurance reform today. The government's
changes to the EI program compel laid-off seasonal workers to go farther
afield to look for work and to accept jobs that pay as little as 70 per
cent of their previous hourly wage  providing that is not below the
province's minimum wage rate.

Ottawa changed admission criteria for EI programs
last January.
People looking for work will be urged to accept work located within a 100-kilometre
radius from their home.

Employment Insurance (EI) : Its
all in the detailsWhat not to say in an interview if youre on EI, and other nightmareshttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2013/02/19/ei-its-all-in-the-details/By Angella MacEwen
February 19, 2013
The latest detail to emerge about the recent changes to EI is from the Digest
of Benefit Entitlement Principles (see the link below). The Digest is
a guide to enforcing Employment Insurance, with definitions of key terms,
and elaborates on expectations of EI claimants and penalties for errors.
In Chapter 9, Refusal of Employment, Service Canada outlines several actions
that are equivalent to refusing employment (including pregnancy or a pending
return to former employment or preferred occupation).
(...)
The undemocratic manner that the changes were introduced  in a mammoth
omni-budget bill, with no stakeholder consultations, is outrageous in and
of itself. Employers and employees pay for EI, and changing it without consultation
is simply wrong. Whats worse, the lack of thought and consultation
is reflected in the many undesirable consequences of the bill.

Digest of Benefit Entitlement Principleshttp://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/ei/digest/table_of_contents.shtmlThe Digest of Entitlement Principles, commonly called the Digest, contains
the principles applied by Human Resources and Social Development Canada
when making decisions on claims for benefit under the Employment Insurance
legislation.

EI claimants are bad guys: Diane Finleyhttp://sgnews.ca/2013/02/05/ei-claimants-are-bad-guys-finley/
Resources minister slags unemployed as inequality rises, poverty increases.February 4, 2013
By Samantha Bayard and Ish Theilheimer
OTTAWA, Straight Goods News, : Although Canada's social report card ranking
has been dragged down down by poverty and inequality among children and
working aged adults, Canada's human resource minister has called EI claimants
"bad guys."
Last Friday, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley outraged the opposition
and organized labour in a response to Chris Charlton (Hamilton Mountain,
NDP), who condemned the Conservatives for reducing EI eligibility at a time
of widespread job cuts. "With respect to the employment insurance program,"
Finley replied, "It is very important to note that, once again, the
NDP is supporting the bad guys."

- includes a four-minute video of NDP Finance Critic Peggy Nash, who says
that the Conservatives are ignoring the crisis of income inequality.

November 5, 2012 Employment Insurance Coverage Survey, 2011http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily-quotidien/121105/dq121105b-eng.htmIn 2011, the rate of eligibility for receiving
regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits declined to its lowest level
in nearly a decade. From 2010 to 2011, the decline was most notable among
people aged 25 to 44 and women of all ages. To be
eligible to receive regular benefits, unemployed individuals must have contributed
to the EI program, met the criteria for job separation, and accumulated
enough insurable hours.

Related links:

Fewer Unemployed Eligible for Benefitshttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/11/05/14167/By Angella MacEwen
November 5, 2012The annual Employment Insurance Coverage Survey is
out, here. The rate of eligibility for regular benefits from Employment
Insurance is the lowest since 2003, the earliest year that there is comparable
data. To qualify, a person must have worked in the
past 12 months and contributed to Employment Insurance, they must have left
their job for a valid reason (layoff is valid, quitting usually is not),
and they must have worked between 420 & 700 hours depending on the unemployment
rate in their region.

The reason for the lower eligibility rate
in 2011 was an increase in the number of workers without sufficient qualifying
hours. In 2011, 150,000 otherwise qualified unemployed workers did not work
sufficient hours to qualify for E.I. benefits. The reason for this, Statistics
Canada says, is an increase in the proportion of unemployed workers who
last worked a temporary, non-seasonal job.

Canadians eligible for employment insurance
at decade-long lowhttp://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1283165
November 5, 2012
The rate of eligibility for collecting employment insurance has plunged
to its lowest level in nearly a decade and critics warn its only going
to get worse. Statistics Canada released figures Monday that revealed of
867,000 unemployed individuals who contributed to EI in 2011, only 545,000
had worked enough hours to qualify for coverage. Its the lowest rate
 78.4 per cent  since 2003. More part-time job losses than full-time
losses are to blame because part-time workers do not accumulate enough hours,
according to Statistics Canada.Source:
Toronto Starhttp://www.thestar.com/

Opinion: Not in Quebecs interests
to take back Employment Insurancehttp://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Opinion+Quebec+best+interests+take+back+from+Ottawa/7244720/story.html
By Michael Mendelson
September 17, 2012
In 1940, the provinces  including Quebec  agreed to a constitutional
amendment putting unemployment insurance into Ottawas jurisdiction.
Now Pauline Marois, Quebecs premier-elect, wants to take what is now
called employment insurance back from the federal government. Ottawa should
respond in the same spirit of pragmatic federalism as prevailed in 1940.
If Premier Marois places a resolution before the National Assembly seeking
a provincially run EI program, and if the resolution passes, the rest of
Canada should agree to this request. But in Quebecs self-interest,
the legislature should turn down the premier.
(...)It will be better for Quebec and for all of Canada
if we take on the tough task of reforming EI together...

[ Author Michael Mendelson is senior scholar
at the Caledon Institute of Social Policy [ http://www.caledoninst.org/
] in Toronto, a non-partisan and non-profit institute. He is a former provincial
deputy minister in Manitoba and in Ontario. ]

Proposed Employment Insurance reforms miss the markhttp://www.cpj.ca/en/content/proposed-ei-reforms-miss-mark
June 19, 2012
By Simon Lewchuk
After the all-night 22-hour voting marathon in the House of Commons last
week, Bill C-38, the federal governments omnibus budget implementation
bill (a.k.a. the Jobs, Growth and Long-Term Prosperity Act) has swiftly
passed 3rd reading in the House and expected to clear the Senate in the
next few days. In addition to the highly publicized and controversial changes
the bill will make to Old Age Security, the charitable sector, and environmental
legislation, provisions in Bill C-38 will also allow for significant new
reforms to Employment Insurance (EI). The message behind these reforms is
loud and clear: if youre able and available to work, dont get
too comfortable on the system.

Connecting Canadians with Available
Jobshttp://goo.gl/vdreY
May 24, 2012
Ottawa, OntarioThe Government is making improvements to Employment
Insurance (EI) to connect Canadians with available jobs. The announcement
was made by the Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and
Skills Development.Source:
Canada News Centrehttp://news.gc.ca/web/index-eng.do

NOTE : Click the "Connecting Canadians"
link above and then scroll down past the eight paragraphs of the announcement
and you'll find an extensive backgrounder with detailed information about
all EI changes announced today.

Workers' EI history to affect claim
under future rules
Rule changes expected to be in place by 2013 stem from EI reform announced
in March budgethttp://goo.gl/Rw5vN
By Meagan Fitzpatrick
May 24, 2012The longer and more frequently someone is claiming
employment insurance, the broader their job search will have to be and the
lower the wages they must be willing to accept, according to proposed regulations
outlined this morning. Human Resources Minister Diane
Finley revealed details Thursday about plans to reform EI that would change
the definitions of "suitable work" and "a reasonable job
search."

Under new regulations expected to be in place
by early 2013, the new definition of suitable employment would be based
on six criteria:
* Personal circumstances.
* Working conditions.
* Hours of work.
* Commuting time.
* Type of work.
* Hourly wage.

Ottawa freezes Employment Insurance
datahttp://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2012/05/23/employment-insurance-data.html
May 23, 2012 Human Resources Minister Diane Finley is set to announce
details Thursday morning that will alter the landscape for those collecting
EI, with particular emphasis on repeat claimants.At the same time, Finley's department has stopped
sending Statistics Canada key and current information about how much federal
money is flowing to each of the provinces for EI claimants, The Canadian
Press has learned. Three tables normally produced
with Statistics Canada's monthly EI summary are now "frozen,"
according to the agency website. Diane Finley's department
has stopped sending Statistics Canada key and current information about
how much federal money is flowing to each of the provinces for EI claimants.
"Data are not available to users," a note says for the tables
that normally show the total dollar amount of benefits paid to each province
and the average weekly payments by province.

Ottawa unveils rules to toughen Employment
Insurance eligibilityhttp://goo.gl/UWRfq May 24, 2012The federal government is changing the employment
insurance system to put more pressure on unemployed Canadians to accept
"suitable" jobs, while also requiring employers to hire local
workers before seeking foreign help. While laying
out the sweeping regulatory changes, Human Resources Minister Diane Finley
summed up the government's perspective in one line: "In short, we want
to help Canadians who want to work."
(...)Among the changes:
* Recipients would be broken up into several categories,
depending on how long they've been on EI and how many times they've accessed
the system in the past.
* Those who have been on EI the longest would have to accept a wider range
of jobs than so-called long-tenured workers on EI for the first time.
* Employers would be required to search for local unemployed workers before
going offshore to hire temporary employees.
* In most cases, people on EI would be required to accept a job within an
hour's drive of their home, if it paid within 70 per cent of their previous
job.
* EI recipients will receive job alerts twice a day, as opposed to the current
rate of three jobs per week.

The changes represent a major shift in the
focus of employment insurance. Instead of functioning as an insurance service,
which all workers pay into and which provides a cushion for the newly unemployed,
it will transition to more of an employment service that works to quickly
re-inject unemployed Canadians back into the workforce.
(...)Under the proposed changes, EI recipients will be
divided into the following categories:
* Long-tenured workers: Those who have paid into
the system for seven of the past 10 years and collected EI for less than
35 weeks in the past five years.
* Frequent claimants: Anyone who has made three or more claims and collected
benefits for more than 60 weeks in the past five years.
* Occasional claimants: All other EI recipients.

Research Funded by Human Resources and Skills Development
Canada
Contradicts Key Argument For New Employment Insurance Policyhttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/05/18/hrsdc-funded-research-contradicts-ei-policy/
By Andrew Jackson
May 18, 2012According to todays Globe, the government says
that the major target of pending changes to EI is frequent claimants, who
are disproportionately to be found in the high unemployment regions. This
focus seems to reflect the common belief that supposedly overgenerous
EI benefits stop some people from moving from high to low unemployment regions.

There is no bad job  the only bad job
is not having a job:
[Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty - May 14, 2012]

Conservatives wage model will
hurt all workers, unions sayhttp://www.thestar.com/news/canada/politics/article/1178645
May 15, 2012
At the heart of the Harper governments 2012 budget is a pay-less
wage model that is unfair to temporary workers from abroad and is
designed to provide business with a pool of low-paid employees across Canada,
labour activists said Tuesday. Union representatives held a news conference
in Ottawa to shed light on the impact on workers of far-reaching changes
to Employment Insurance (EI) and the Temporary Foreign Worker Program buried
in the federal governments controversial budget legislation.
(...) Of greatest concern, say critics, is the governments move to
allow employers to pay temporary highly-skilled foreign workers up to 15
per cent less (for low-skilled workers, its up to 5 per cent less)
than the prevailing local wage under some circumstances.
(...) Concerns were also raised about measures in the budget legislation
intended to pressure EI recipients to loosen their criteria for suitable
employment. On Monday, Flaherty confirmed the government intends to clamp
down on EI claimants. Flaherty said the government will expand the threshold
for what is considered a suitable job for EI recipients. That means that
those who pass up such employment could lose their EI benefits.Therell
be a broader definition and people will have to engage more in the workforce,
Flaherty told reporters. He also indicated that he has little sympathy for
EI recipients who are too picky about the jobs they will accept. There
is no bad job  the only bad job is not having a job, he said.

Kicking them while theyre downhttp://framedincanada.com/2012/05/15/kicking-them-when-theyre-down/
May 15, 2012
By Trish Hennessy
Four years after a global economic meltdown threw scores of Canadians out
of work during one of the worst recessions ever, followed by a tepid recovery
that has us still biting our fingernails, Canadas federal Finance
Minister Jim Flaherty made himself available to reporters to talk jobs.
Was it to announce a new jobs training program? Better income supports for
the unemployed? A plan to address the hard reality that there are more unemployed
than there are job vacancies? No, it was not. Instead, The finance minister
took to the unbecoming practice of blaming the unemployed for their inability
to find a job.
(...) That Flahertys remarks reveal a government out of touch with
and insensitive to the reality of Canadians  especially youth shut
out of the opportunities of work that their baby boomer parents never in
their lifetime faced  is one thing. That any government would promote
the perpetuation of bad jobs over good ones is quite another.
Source:
Framed in Canada - Trish Hennessy's bloghttp://framedincanada.com/

Memo to Ministers: The Issue is Unemployment
Not Labour Shortageshttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/05/16/memo-to-ministers-the-issue-is-unemployment-not-labour-shortages/May 16, 2012The federal government is basing labour market policy
on the belief that, as Jason Kenney pithily puts it in todays Globe
and Mail [ http://goo.gl/nZYxB ],
there are large and growing labour shortages. Hence moves to
bring in even more temporary foreign workers at lower than average wages,
and to push EI claimants into supposedly available jobs. Not
that the facts appear to matter, but it is surely notable that  even
after two months of strong job growth  we still have an unemployment
rate of 7.3%. The real unemployment rate in April  which
includes involuntary part-time workers  was 10.7%, down only marginally
from 11.3% a year earlier. The real unemployment rate for youth
is still 20.4%, down a tad from 21.2% a year ago.

The most recent Statscan data on job vacancies
[ http://goo.gl/HUoJP ] for the three
months ending in January, 2012 show that there were 6.4 unemployed workers
for every reported job vacancy. That is actually worse than the previously
reported number for September when ther were 5.4 unemployed workers for
every reported vacancy.

Tightening the Screws on the Unemployedhttp://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/05/15/tightening-the-screws-on-the-unemployed/May 15, 2012The significant changes to the Employment Insurance
(EI) program which are to be quickly implemented through Budget 2012 with
very little consultation have not received enough critical attention. First,
a word on what is not in the Budget. It is disappointing, to say the least,
that the government is failing to respond to the fact that less than 40%
of unemployed Canadians are now qualifying for EI, well below the already
low pre-recession rate. And, for all of the talk about skills shortages
in Canada, it is notable that there is NO increased investment at all in
EI supported training which would assist unemployed workers to find good
jobs. Instead, the focus is on tightening discipline
over those workers who have managed to qualify for a claim. (...) the major
intent is to tighten the system to get the unemployed back to work, any
work, much faster. At a minimum, these changes demand much closer consideration
than they will get before the Budget Bill is passed.

Job Shortages? What Shortages?http://www.progressive-economics.ca/2012/02/08/job-shortages-what-shortages/February 8, 2012
Sigh. Here we go again. More evidence-free corporate policy advocacy. The
Canadian Chamber of Commerce [ http://www.chamber.ca/
] put out a report today [ http://chambertop10.ca/
] which points with alarm to labour and skills shortages, and calls for
a less generous EI program to get workers to move to the supposedly available
jobs. A growing shortage of highly skilled
labour is becoming desperate, threatening our ability to keep up in a global,
knowledge-based economy Our Employment Insurance Program perpetuates
regional disparity and discourages Canadians from relocating to where work
is available. Problem is that there are clearly  based on the
new job vacancy data  many more unemployed workers than there are
job vacancies.

Commentary by Jim Sayre of the
Community Legal Assistance Society in Vancouver
on Employment Insurance amendments in BILL C-38,
the federal budget implementation act
May 3(First Reading April 26, 2012)

Bill C-38 is a 439 page (753 section) monstrosity with
the meaningless title - "An Act to implement certain provisions of
the budget tabled in Parliament on March 29, 2012 and other measures"

Hidden behind this bland facade are two sets of EI amendments
that are important enough to have been introduced separately, so they could
be properly scrutinized and debated. Sections 603 to 619 amend the EI Act
by changing the way benefit rates are calculated. The language is so dense
that it's impossible at first glance to know whether the changes will be
good, bad or neutral. My first impression is that they may be good for some
claimants.

More importantly for advocates, sections 44 to 70 of Bill
C-38 create a new "social security tribunal" (SST) which will
replace both the EI Referees and Umpires, and also the Review Tribunals
and Pension Appeals Board which hears CPP and OAS appeals. The new tribunal
will have a general division where a one-person panel will hear initial
appeals, and an appeal division. The AD will only hear an appeal if the
claimant successfully applies for leave, which will be refused if the AD
believes that the appeal has no reasonable chance of success. The grounds
for appeal to the AD will be similar to those that now apply to appeals
to the Umpires: natural justice, jurisdictional errors, errors of law, and
perverse or capricious findings of fact.

Since the whole bill is so huge, I've separated the relevant
pages; see the links below.

While the government is thus demolishing and rebuilding
the EI appeal structure, it isn't fixing the most irrational feature of
the current system - the requirement that CRA and ultimately the Tax Court
has exclusive jurisdiction to hear "insurability" issues.

Since the AD will no longer be made up of Federal Court
judges, it appears that judicial reviews of its decisions will be decided
by the Federal Court itself, not the Federal Court of Appeal (FCA).

The CBC news ticker this morning says that the government
has limited debate on Bill C-38. Maybe one minute per page...?

They apparently do intend to pass it promptly. The transition
provisions allow the Referees to hear any appeal filed before April 13,
2013, and the Umpires to decide any appeal heard before that date. The Referees
have to decide all such appeals by the end of next October, and the Umpires
by March 31, 2014. After those dates, all proceedings will be conducted
by the new SST. Section 272 of Bill C-38 states that judicial reviews of
SST Appeal Division's decisions will continue to be heard by the FCA under
s. 28 of the FC Act.

In regard to the transition process, the key date for
CPP and OAS appeals seems to be March 31, 2014.

The Liberal government flirted with changing the appeal
process in the mid-90's, but they at least conducted a consultation process
first, and backed off in the face of strong opposition. I have a feeling
that this government isn't going to change its mind.

The current appeal processes may seem a bit quaint, but
they generally work, and the problems could have been fixed without totally
eliminating them. The Referees and Review Tribunal provided a element of
public participation by real people in the legal system - people with worker
or employer experience - that will be largely lacking in the new SST. Bill
C-38 says that the no more than 74 full time members altogether (across
the whole country), plus part-time members if the workload is too great.
All appointments will be made by the Cabinet, with an element of patronage,
perhaps,,,

So instead of the jury-like nature of Referees and Review
Tribunal members, all EI, CPP and OAS appeals will be decided by professional
tribunalists, with very limited oversight by an appeal division made up
of other professional tribunalists rather than the independent judges who
currently serve as Umpires and Pension Appeal Board members.

The SST will probably have the same jurisdiction over Charter
and human rights issues as the current appeal tribunals have, since it will
have the power to decide any question of law. However, s. 64(2) may be interpreted
otherwise with respect to the CPP.

---Jim Sayre is with the Community Legal Assistance Society [ http://clasbc.net/
] in Vancouver.
If you wish to discuss the above analysis/critique with him, you can reach
Jim at jsayre@clasbc.net

Canada needs temporary unemployment assistance: think
tankhttp://goo.gl/pJt1i
By Barrie McKenna
April 17, 2012
Young workers, women, immigrants and urban dwellers are chronic losers in
Canadas Employment Insurance regime. Theyre less likely to get
EI when theyre out of work, and those that do, must work much harder
to earn it. A new report being released Tuesday by the University of Torontos
Mowat Centre public policy think tank says the solution is a new system
of temporary unemployment assistance, or TUA.Source:
Globe and Mail http://www.theglobeandmail.com/

Abstract (Excerpt):http://mowatcentre.ca/research-topic-mowat.php?mowatResearchID=61
This paper makes the case for a significant adjustment to how the federal
government supports the unemployed. This new study follows on the heels
of the Mowat Centre EI Task Force [ http://www.mowateitaskforce.ca/
] , which released its recommendations in November, 2011. Deepening and
expanding upon a core argument of the Mowat Centre EI Task Force, the new
paper suggests a Temporary Unemployment Assistance (TUA) program to plug
some of the gaps left by the federal EI system.

Source:Mowat Centre Employment Insurance
Task Force
The Mowat Centre EI Task Force is examining Canada's support system for
the unemployed and will propose a blueprint for a strengthened national
system.
The EI Task Force is part of:The Mowat Centre
The Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation is an independent, non-partisan public
policy research centre located at the School of Public Policy and Governance
at the University of Toronto. The Mowat Centre undertakes collaborative
applied policy research and engages in public dialogue on Canadas
most important national issues, and proposes innovative, research-driven
public policy recommendations, informed by Ontarios reality.

The Employment Insurance Program in Canada: How It Works
By André Léonard
18 October 2010Revised 14 August 2014

Closing the gap between EI and welfarehttp://www.thestar.com/news/article/1109317
By Laurie Monsebraaten
January 1, 2012
(...) [there is] a growing number of area workers who either arent
covered by EI or dont qualify and could benefit from a proposed Jobseekers
Loan designed to bridge the gap between employment insurance and welfare,
says social policy researcher Michael Mendelson. (...) Under Mendelsons
proposal, income-tested forgivable loans would be available in bi-weekly
payments of almost $700 for six months. The loans would be repaid based
on total earnings for the year the money was received  they would
be completely forgivable for those with incomes below about $10,000 and
fully repayable for those earning about $71,000. At about $51,000, recipients
would have to repay half of the Jobseekers Loan. All adults looking
for work would be eligible for the full loan of almost $9,000 every five
years and it would could cost the federal government about $1 billion annually.
Source:
Toronto Starhttp://www.thestar.com/

From the
Caledon Institute of Social Policy:

Fixing the Hole in Employment Insurance:
Temporary Income Assistance for the Unemployed (PDF - 132K, 37
pages)http://www.caledoninst.org/pdf_en/967ENG.pdf
Michael Mendelson and Ken Battle
December 2011
Many unemployed Canadians are ineligible for Employment Insurance, so that
welfare becomes their only alternative. But welfare rates are low, especially
for single employable recipients. Further, applicants must exhaust their
financial assets, and the paternalistic requirements of welfare are stigmatizing.
As a consequence, it is difficult to bounce back from welfare into the economic
mainstream. The solution most often proposed has been to loosen the rules
for Employment Insurance; however, we show in this paper that many unemployed
workers would still be left in the cold even if we did that. Something is
needed between Employment Insurance, with its relatively higher benefits
but limited reach, and welfare, to which anyone in need can apply but only
for inadequate benefits. We propose a new temporary income measure to fill
the gap between Employment Insurance and welfare  the Jobseekers
Loan.Source:
Caledon Institute of Social Policyhttp://www.caledoninst.org/

---

NOTE : The Caledon Institute of Social
Policy website was recently relaunched. If you have links to or bookmarks
for some of Caledon's reports, you'll have to update those. The Publications
section of the new site [ http://www.caledoninst.org/pub_search.php
] contains links to hundreds of reports, articles, submissions, etc., back
to 1993. Take a few minutes to visit the new Caledon
website!

Manitoba

Welfare fills gap as jobless wait for
EI
Federal government to blame for tardy processing, advocate sayshttp://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/welfare-fills-gap-as-jobless-wait-for-ei-136420573.html
By Bruce Owen
December 30, 2011
More Manitobans are collecting welfare despite the province having one of
the lowest unemployment rates in the country, the most recent provincial
numbers say.
And experts say one reason is due to the unemployed being forced to apply
for provincial social assistance because of increasing delays in processing
federal Employment Insurance claims. (...) Neil Cohen, executive director
of Winnipeg's Community Unemployed Help Centre, said it's becoming more
common for jobless Manitobans to collect provincial assistance because of
the length of time it takes to get Employment Insurance claims processed.
In some cases, it takes up to six weeks or longer.
Source:
Winnipeg Free Presshttp://www.winnipegfreepress.com/

Related links:

Community Unemployed Help Centre (CUHC)http://www.cuhc.mb.ca/
CUHC is a non-profit organization primarily dedicated to providing information,
advice and representation to unemployed workers in Manitoba experiencing
Employment Insurance problems. We also engage in broader social policy issues
related to unemployment.
- incl. links to:
* Home * About Us * What You Need to Know Before You Apply * UI/EI Information
* Appeals Information * Making EI Better * Help Centres in Other Provinces
* LinksTIP : CUHC's roots are in the Manitoba
labour movement, but Employment Insurance is a federal program, so the information
on the CUHC website applies to all jurisdictions. Recommended reading!

From the
Vancouver Sun:

Decline in EI recipients could signal renewed health
in B.C. labour markethttp://goo.gl/8jhR9
By Evan Duggan
December 16, 2011
A decline in the number of British Columbians receiving employment insurance
benefits could be a sign the labour market is recovering from the beating
it took beginning with the global recession in 2008, according to a Vancouver
economist.New numbers published by Statistics Canada show that 9,170 fewer
people in Metro Vancouver received EI benefits in October 2011 when compared
to October 2010  a 32 per cent drop. Throughout B.C. there was a 28
per cent drop year-over-year fewer recipients across the province.
(...)
While the number of employment insurance beneficiaries has been falling,
the total number of British Columbians receiving provincial income assistance
has remained steady at roughly 180,000 over the past year, according to
statistics provided by the Ministry of Social Development. Numbers
do fluctuate with seasonal work, said David Haslam, a spokesman with
the Ministry of Social Development. We have not seen any indication
that the decline in the number of EI recipients is having a significant
impact on the provinces income assistance caseload.
Source:
Vancouver Sun http://www.vancouversun.com/

Government
launches Employment Insurance rate-setting consultations
News Release
August 18, 2011
(...) The consultations will focus on how the EI rate-setting mechanism
can be further improved to ensure more stable and predictable rates, while:
* Ensuring the EI program breaks even over time;
* Avoiding large cumulative surpluses or deficits; and
* Maintaining a transparent rate-setting process.
(...) As previously announced, a web-based consultation process will invite
written recommendations.

Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force
The Mowat Centre has convened a research-driven Employment Insurance
Task Force to examine Canada's support system for the unemployed.
The objective is to develop an Ontario proposal for modernizing
the EI systemconscious of the national contextthat works
for individuals and businesses. (...) The Task Forces recommendations
will be issued in June 2011. In addition, all research conducted
through the task force will be published as part of the Task Forces
findings. The Task Force is bringing together a wide cross-section
of Canadian leaders and researchers to develop its proposal for
reform.
- incl. links to : * Home * About * EI News * Issues * Reports *
Resources

THE ISSUES
(Click the link above to access all links to the content below)

Making
it Work : Final Recommendations of the
Mowat Centre Employment Insurance Task Force
(PDF - 859K, 122 pages)
November 16, 2011
In Spring 2010, the Mowat Centre convened the Employment Insurance
Task Force.
The Task Forces mandate was to review the current Employment
Insurance (EI) system, consult about its relevance to contemporary
realities, and make recommendations about improving Canadas
support system for the unemployed. At the outset, we committed that
any recommendations would be evidence-based and principled. We also
committed that this process would be transparent, non-partisan,
and incorporate a diversity of perspectives.

To this end, we held extensive consultations
with employers, workers, and civil society. We commissioned research
from Canadas top experts. We hosted a series of technical
consultations to vet our proposals. (...) Based on our research
and consultation, we propose a blueprint for a strengthened national
program to support the unemployed. (...)
Our 18 recommendations are organized around four themes:
- a nationally standardized system,
- active employment measures (i.e. training),
- special benefits, and
- financing and management.
We recommend transformational changes, as well as smaller changes
that address long-standing irritants in the EI system.

NOTE : The
series of four papers below was commissioned by the Mowat Centre
Employment Insurance Task Force to serve as sources of input for
the Task Force as it develops recommendations for reform of Canadas
Employment Insurance system. Watch for
the release of the final recommendations of the Mowat Centre EI
Task Force on November 16th.

The
Income Sources for Long-Term Workers
Who Exhaust Employment Insurance Benefits (PDF - 917K,
33 pages)
By Ross Finney et al.
This research has two main goals. The first is to track those individuals
who exhausted a spell of regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits
during the 1990s and early into the new millennium in order to investigate
the labour market outcomes in their post-EI periods. We focus particularly
on individuals who experienced an extended work period prior to
receiving EI benefits. The second objective is to examine whether
there have been shifts in these patterns following the numerous
reforms to EI and Social Assistance (SA) that took place in the
1990s.

Fixing
the Hole in Employment Insurance:
Temporary Income Assistance for the Unemployed
(PDF - 859K, 35 pages)
By Michael Mendelson and Ken Battle
(...) At present, welfare is the only resort for the unemployed
in financial need who are not eligible for Employment Insurance.
But welfare is a highly stigmatizing and invasive program. We have
therefore proposed the development of an income-tested program between
welfare and Employment Insurance which would provide limited and
temporary financial assistance to those in need who are actively
engaged in job search.

The
Difficulties of Transitioning
from Employment Insurance (EI) to Social Assistance
(undated three-minute video)
John Stapleton discusses the difficulties in transitioning from
EI to social assistance. Stapleton is particularly concerned with
EI exhaustees who end up on social assistance and face barriers
within that program to labour market re-entry. In this video, Stapleton
explores some options for reform to address this situation.
[ Two
Solitudes - brief text to accompany the above video on EI
to SA]
[ Open Policy
- John Stapleton's website ]

Source:Mowat Centre Employment
Insurance Task Force
The Mowat Centre EI Task Force is examining Canada's support system
for the unemployed and will propose a blueprint for a strengthened
national system.
The EI Task Force is part of:The Mowat Centre
The Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation is an independent, non-partisan
public policy research centre located at the School of Public Policy
and Governance at the University of Toronto. The Mowat Centre undertakes
collaborative applied policy research and engages in public dialogue
on Canadas most important national issues, and proposes innovative,
research-driven public policy recommendations, informed by Ontarios
reality.

How
to Make $57 Billion Disappear:The
Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board
October 13, 2010
In this blog posting, former senior Finance Canada officials Clark and DeVries
note that the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board (CEIFB) was created
as a Crown Corporation in the 2008 federal Budget. The stated objectives
of the CEIFB were to (1) enhance the independence of the premium rate setting
and (2) to ensure that employment insurance (EI) premiums are used exclusively
for the EI program. However, Clark and DeVries explain in detail in this
article that "the creation of this Crown corporation does neither."

So why was the CEIFB created, you ask?

"The only reason was to get rid of the cumulative
surplus in the EI Account, which as of March 31, 2009 stood at $57.2 billion.
Although notional in nature, this balance has been an ongoing embarrassment
to the government. The creation of the CEIFB effectively wipes out this
massive cumulative balance and replaces it with a cash reserve of $2 billion,
under the pretense of creating a more independent process. In her Opinion
on the 2009-10 condensed financial statements, the Auditor General noted
that she would be commenting in more detail on significant accounting
changes to the accounts for the Employment Insurance program, which
she wanted to draw to Parliaments attention. There was no debate on
this when the legislation that created the CEIFB was approved by Parliament.
It is doubtful that the current members of the CEIFB were even aware of
this when they were appointed."

Source:3D policy
[ About the authors
]
NOTE: click the 3D policy link above to read over a dozen other blog entries
since September 2010 by two former senior Finance Canada insiders in the
federal budget process.

Another
EI AbsurdityBy Andrew Jackson
November 12, 2010
Well under one half of Canadas 1.5 million unemployed workers are
collecting EI benefits today, even though the national unemployment rate
is still almost 8%. Special EI measures introduced as part of the 2009 Budget,
notably an extra 5 weeks of benefits for all claimants, expired this fall,
long before a real labour market recovery has taken place. (...) The situation
is especially grim in Ontario. Less than one in three (32.0%) of unemployed
Ontario workers received regular EI benefits in August. This is well below
the national average of 44.4%, even though the Ontario unemployment rate
is well above the national rate (8.6% compared to 7.9% in October).
Source:Progressive Economics
Forum Blog

From Jennefer Laidley
of the Income Security Advocacy Centre:
September 29, 30 (2010)

Flaherty discussing and reviewing EI premium increase
 and hinting that deficit may be bigger than thought:

EI
Financing: Reset Required (PDF - 39K,
4 pages)
September 2010
By Michael Mendelson, Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman
In mid-November 2010, the Canada Employment Insurance Financing Board will
likely recommend a 15-cent increase in Employment Insurance employee premiums
from $1.73 to $1.88 per $100 of insurable earnings for 2011. The contribution
for employers is 1.4 times the employee premium so the cost for employers
will rise as well. The Cabinet has until November 30 to act on the Board?s
recommendation. The Cabinet could decide to reject the proposal and continue
the current EI premium freeze for another year. Either way, it faces a tough
dilemma.
Source:Caledon Institute of Social Policy
Established in 1992, the Caledon Institute of Social Policy is a private,
nonprofit organization with charitable status. It is supported primarily
by the Maytree Foundation, located in Toronto. Caledon is an independent
and critical voice that does not depend on government funding and is not
affiliated with any political party.

Government
panel pushes for maximum increase in EI premiums
Ottawa to decide whether to overrule board it created as critics argue increase
will slash jobs during fragile economic recovery
September 9, 2010
By Bill Curry
A new panel created by the Harper government will move to raise employment
insurance premiums by the maximum allowed, despite calls to leave payroll
taxes frozen in light of Canadas fragile jobs picture. Canadians will
start feeling the hit on their paycheques when the two-year freeze on EI
premiums announced in the 2009 budget comes to an end on Jan. 1. Employers
will also have to cough up more in premiums for their workers, which economists
and business groups warn could hurt employment.The Globe and Mail has learned
that an internal report on EI rates by a new independent body will recommend
they be raised by 15 cents on every $100 earned, an 8.7-per-cent increase
from the current $1.73 and the maximum allowed under federal law. Employers
will have to pay an extra 21 cents per $100.
Source:Globe and Mail

Related link:

EI
Premiums Come Full Circle
By Andrew Jackson
September 9, 2010
For reasons that escape me, the Globe ran a headline front page story today
[see above] on what all fiscal policy and Employment Insurance wonks have
known to be true for some time. Under current legislation, and as announced
in the 2009 Budget, the EI premium rate set by a supposedly autonomous but
tightly constrained new body will rise by 15 cents per $100 of insured earnings
for workers, and by 21 cents per $100 of earnings for employers in January.
This is the maximum increase allowed, and the maximum increase is required
since premiums must rise to balance revenues and expenditures if the fund
has no surplus. Premiums must rise, that is, unless the government decides
to exercise its right to unilaterally set the premium rate, which it does
not intend to do. This is a new chapter in an old story which brings us
full circle. Once again, the federal government will be deliberately running
annual EI account surpluses to reduce the public debt. Minister Flaherty
is taking a rather big play out of Paul Martins book.
Source:Progressive Economics
Forum Blog

Ottawa
ends enhanced EI program
September 9, 2010
By Tanya Talaga
Ontario workers who lose their jobs next week will receive less employment
insurance. As of Saturday (September 11), Ottawa will cancel an extra five
weeks of regular EI benefits and end a program that provided up to an additional
20 weeks of benefits for longer-serving employees. (...) Last year, Prime
Minister Stephen Harper enhanced regular EI benefits for laid off workers
by five weeks in response to the crippling of Canadas job market during
the economic downturn. Ottawa also enhanced benefits for longer-serving
employees by up to 20 weeks. Five weeks of benefits roughly equals $1,768
on average  EI claims are based on 55 per cent of a persons
income. Twenty weeks is a lost $7,072.
Source:Toronto Star

Related links:

Government of Canada news release announcing
the extended EI benefits in September 2009:

Help
Wanted: How Well did the EI Program Respond During Recent Recessions?September 8, 2010
This Mowat Note assesses how well Canadas Employment Insurance system
performed during the most recent recession compared to previous recessions,
focusing on regional inequities. (...) The analysis reveals that regional
differences in coverage between provinces were significant. In Ontario and
British Columbia in 2009, only 38 per cent and 39 per cent (respectively)
of the unemployed were receiving benefits, while in some other provinces,
over 90 per cent of the unemployed were receiving benefits.

Source:Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation
(University of Toronto)
The Mowat Centre for Policy Innovation has been set up to help inform and
revitalize Canadas public policy agenda, given new Canadian and global
realities. This includes questioning many of the assumptions that underlie
our current approaches, while ensuring that all of us continue to share
a sense of common citizenship, benefit from equality of opportunity, and
have access to all the benefits of being Canadian

Related link:

A
disguised welfare schemeBy Lorne Gunter
September 10, 2010
(...) Released Wednesday by the University of Toronto's Mowat Centre for
Policy Innovation, the study [on Employment Insurance disparity] shows that
during the 2008-09 recession, Ontario and Western workers received half
the benefits per capita that unemployed workers in Atlantic Canada and Quebec
received.

According to researchers, only 38% of unemployed workers
in Ontario and 39% in B.C. received benefits, despite those provinces being
among the hardest hit with job losses. And while 42% of Canada's unemployed
lived in Ontario, laid-off workers in that province received only 25% of
training funds available through EI.

Employment
Insurance Coverage Survey, 2009June 10, 2010
Among the 1.04 million unemployed individuals who contributed to the Employment
Insurance (EI) program in 2009, 857,000 had a recent job separation that
met the EI program criteria. Of those, 739,000 or 86.2% were eligible to
receive regular EI benefits because they worked enough hours, up from 82.2%
in 2008.
- includes links to three tables:
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits,
2009
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits
by sex, 2009
* Coverage and eligibility of the unemployed for Employment Insurance benefits,
by province, 2009

EI
Monitoring and Assessment Report 2009
Posted to the HRSDC website in April 2010
The 2009 Employment Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Report focuses on
the period April 1, 2008 to March 31, 2009. The Honourable Diane Finley,
Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development, tabled the report in
Parliament on April 29, 2010. The report, prepared by the Canada Employment
Insurance Commission, monitors and assesses the impacts of the Employment
Insurance program on the economy, communities and individuals.Table of contents:
* Chapter 1 of this report provides an overview of the Canadian labour
market in 2007/08. * Chapter 2 is an overview of EI benefits (income benefits) under
Part I of the Employment Insurance Act for the same period.* Chapter 3 gives information about the support provided to unemployed
workers through active re-employment measures, known as Employment Benefits
and Support Measures* Chapter 4 presents information on EI program administration and
service delivery. * Chapter 5 analyzes the impacts and effectiveness of the EI program
based on administrative data, internal and external research, and evaluative
studies.

Highlights
* Lowest employment growth in 15 years, due to the global recession in 2008/09
* Access to benefits was high among those who contributed to the program.
* Regular EI claims increased in 2008/09, in the midst of the first recession
since 1991/92
* Total regular and special benefits paid increased for both men and women
* Maternity and parental claims increased
* Fishing claims continued to decrease
* There was a significant increase in the number of Work Sharing agreements
* Active employment measures helped Canadians prepare for, obtain and maintain
employment

Source:Employment
Insurance Monitoring and Assessment Reports
NOTE: this page of the HRSDC website contains direct links to the reports
for 2009, 2008 and 2007 *only*, along with the following friendly
rejoinder:
"If you would like to request copies of the previous Monitoring and
Assessment Reports, please contact the Publications/Distribution Unit."
That's not accountability, that's obstruction. People should never have
to divulge their identity to access a public report. Shame on you, HRSDC.

Ontario
seeks Ottawa's help as welfare cases spike
Province calling for national standard for accessing
Employment Insurance payments as laid-off workers exhaust their federal
benefits
March 15, 2010By Bill Curry
"(...) Ontario in particular is calling on Ottawa to step in with a
further expansion of federal EI so that provinces and workers are treated
the same no matter where they live in Canada. Because EI is easier to get
in regions of historically high unemployment, the province says many Ontarians
who lost their jobs during the recession were left out."
Source:The Globe and Mail

What
happens when Employment Insurance runs out?
February 15, 2010
By Carol Goar
"[People who have] exhausted their employment insurance benefits (...)
were largely ignored in Ottawa's stimulus package. The 2009 federal budget
extended EI benefits for a mere five weeks. Last September, to alleviate
public pressure, the government added a 5-to-20-week top-up for older workers.
(...) EI exhaustees are by no means the worst-off victims of the recession.
But their plight provides an early glimpse of what Canadians can expect
from Ottawa, as they face as a long, debilitating job drought.
[ more
columns by Carol Goar ]
Source:The Toronto Star

EI
system failing recession stress testreport
News Release
January 25, 2010
OTTAWACanadas Employment Insurance system is failing the stress
test of the recession and fixing it must be a key priority in the
upcoming federal budget, says a new report from the Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives (CCPA). According to the report, even as the EI system
became easier to access the number of unemployed Canadians not in receipt
of EI benefits jumped from 650,760 in October 2008 to 777,4000 in October
2009.Many unemployed workers have fallen through the cracks of the
EI system, says Andrew Jackson, Chief Economist with the Canadian
Labour Congress and a CCPA Research Associate. In October 2009, 51%
of unemployed Canadians were collecting EI benefitsand just 41% in
Ontario.

Source:Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
(CCPA)
The CCPA is an independent, non-partisan research institute concerned with
issues of social and economic justice. Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one
of Canadas leading progressive voices in public policy debates. By
combining solid research with extensive outreach, we work to enrich democratic
dialogue and ensure Canadians know there are workable solutions to the issues
we face.

Notice
of Intent  Fairness for the Self Employed ActDecember 2009
The Canada Employment Insurance Commission is contemplating amendments to
the Employment Insurance Regulations to reflect the amendments to the Employment
Insurance Act (EI Act) contained in Bill C-56, the Fairness for the Self-Employed
Act, which received Royal Assent on December 15, 2009. Bill C-56 provides
EI special benefits, which are maternity, parental, sickness and compassionate
care benefits, to self-employed persons on a voluntary basis. To the extent
possible, these benefits will mirror the special benefits currently available
to paid employees already covered under the existing Employment Insurance
Act. For more information or to provide comments on the proposed amendments,
please consult the Notice of Intent in the Canada Gazette.

EI:
Evidence of Exhaustion?Posted by Erin Weir
October 27, 2009
Analysis by Erin Weir
Todays Employment Insurance (EI) figures indicate that, in August,
23,000 more Canadians filed EI claims but 19,000 fewer received EI benefits.
The most optimistic possibility is that all of the workers who stopped receiving
benefits got jobs. Indeed, the Labour Force Survey indicates that total
employment rose by 27,000 in August.
Source:Progressive Economics
Blog

Government
of Canada intends to table legislation
to extend Employment Insurance benefits for long-tenured workersSeptember 14, 2009
The Honourable Diane Finley, Minister of Human Resources and Skills Development,
and the Honourable Jean-Pierre Blackburn, Minister of National Revenue and
Minister of State (Agriculture), today announced that the Government of
Canada has given notice that it intends to introduce legislation that would
temporarily provide additional Employment Insurance (EI) regular benefits
to unemployed long-tenured workers. These are individuals who have worked
and paid EI premiums for a significant period of time and have previously
made limited use of EI regular benefits. (...) This new measure is designed
to provide additional support to workers who have paid EI premiums for years
and made limited use of the program, while they look for jobs in a recovering
economy. It is a temporary measure, which builds on those introduced in
Canadas Economic Action Plan.
(...) Through the Economic Action Plan, the Government of Canada has also
implemented measures to support all unemployed Canadians. These measures
include providing nationally five extra weeks of EI regular benefits, increasing
the maximum duration of benefits from 45 to 50 weeks in regions of high
unemployment, protecting jobs through the Work-Sharing program, and freezing
EI premiums for 2010 at the same rate as 2009 to provide economic stimulus.
Source:Canadian Government News Centre

Related links:

EI
WoesBy Armine Yalnizyan
September 18th, 2009
The latest changes to EI to be introduced by the Conservatives do almost
nothing for the shock troops of the labour market, those who were first
felled when the recession hit last year. Bill C-50 will pass  whether
or not it is fast-tracked today or well-considered in committee
depends on how the procedural tactics imbedded in the bill are handled by
all of the opposition parties  but it is a resounding bust for those
whose benefits are due to run out just about now.
Source:Relentlessly Progressive
Economics Blog
[ Progressive Economics Forum
]Economic policy-making and economics instruction
in Canada have both increasingly come to reflect a conservative, free-market
perspective. There is an urgent need to promote an alternative, progressive
economics community in Canada.Over 125 progressive economistsworking
in universities, the labour movement, and activist research organizationshave
joined forces to make our collective, critical perspective heard. We have
formed the Progressive Economics Forum. [ About
PEF ]

Also from Armine at PEF:

Employment
Insurance Reforms - Unfinished Business of the RecessionBy Armine Yalnizyan
September 14, 2009
With their backs once again to the wall, the Conservatives today announced
that they will, at long last, propose additional measures to help the unemployed,
something almost everyone inside and outside Parliament has been asking
them to do for the better part of a year. They will extend employment insurance
benefits by another 5 to 20 weeks for those who qualify to their new rules,
a move they claim will help about 190,000 unemployed Canadians  people
who are already protected by Employment Insurance provisions, but are running
out of time. But they will only qualify for the new help if they meet all
sorts of other conditions that make them the deserving unemployed
in the Conservatives eyes  long-term tenure at their job, and
not having made a claim for help in the past.
A little reality check is in order...
Source:Relentlessly Progressive
Economics Blog
[ Progressive Economics Forum
]
Economic policy-making and economics instruction in Canada have both increasingly
come to reflect a conservative, free-market perspective. There is an urgent
need to promote an alternative, progressive economics community in Canada.Over
125 progressive economistsworking in universities, the labour movement,
and activist research organizationshave joined forces to make our
collective, critical perspective heard. We have formed the Progressive Economics
Forum. [ About
PEF ]

Conservatives
buy some time
Election tension eases as NDP indicates it will likely back government over
EI improvementsSeptember 15, 2009
OTTAWAPrime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives set the stage
for their first parliamentary survival test on Friday, but the threatened
political showdown that could lead to an early election appeared to be losing
steam.
Source:Toronto Star

Supporting
Working Canadian Families:
The Role of Employment Insurance Special Benefits (PDF - 105K,
33 pages)
By Michael J. Prince
September 2009
This paper explores the Employment Insurance (EI) policy objective of encouraging
long-term labour market attachment by providing temporary income support
during absences from work due to life events such as illness, childbirth
and caring for a terminally ill family member. The study was undertaken
as part of an ongoing assessment of the policies and programs of Human Resources
and Skills Development Canada, which is examining how EI may need to adjust
to better align with current shifts in the labour market and society. The
report examines five EI special benefits: the Family Supplement, Sickness,
Parental, Maternity and Compassionate Care. The paper also includes a chronology
of major developments in family-related benefits in EI policy from 1941
to 2006. Because EI special benefits operate at the intersection of labour
market policy, income security policy and family policy, these benefits
enable a better balance between work and family life, and have important
implications for each of these policy domains.

Source:Caledon Institute of Social Policy
The Caledon Institute of Social Policy does rigorous, high-quality research
and analysis; seeks to inform and influence public opinion and to foster
public discussion on poverty and social policy; and develops and promotes
concrete, practicable proposals for the reform of social programs at all
levels of government and of social benefits provided by employers and the
voluntary sector.

Tories
to introduce own EI reformHuman Resources Minister says changes
to come in fall session;
Liberals question why proposals weren't made to the bipartisan working groupBy Rhéal Séguin (no relation)
Quebec City
September 7, 2009
Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives are planning to unveil an
unemployment insurance reform package in the coming session of Parliament,
in effect undermining one of the Liberal party's justifications for a fall
election. A bipartisan working group on EI failed to agree to changes to
the program over the summer, with the Liberals accusing the Tories of not
bringing any proposals to the table. Last week, when the Liberals announced
their intention of defeating the government and said they would no longer
attend the working group, Conservative committee member Diane Finley chastised
them for walking away from the discussions. (...) The [proposed Conservative]
move to introduce their own EI plan suggests the Harper Conservatives, gearing
up for an election campaign, want to shift the blame onto the opposition
for failing to help the growing ranks of Canada's unemployed. (...) Yesterday
Marlene Jennings, one of the two Liberal MPs on the committee, accused the
government of acting in bad faith by now tabling proposals that could easily
have been debated by the EI reform panel.
Source:Globe and Mail

Stingy
EI Benefits
By Erin Weir
April 22, 2010
This morning, Statistics Canada released Employment Insurance (EI) figures
for February. These figures show slightly more recipients nationally, but
somewhat fewer recipients among provinces. (...) The status quo is that
more than 1.5 million Canadians are officially unemployed, but that fewer
than 700,000 receive EI benefits. Continuing that state of affairs is a
poor outcome.

Employment
Insurance Runs Out
February 19, 2010
The number of Canadians receiving Employment Insurance (EI) benefits plummeted
in December. The drop of 40,100 was the largest monthly decrease in years.
One would anticipate some decline in the number of EI recipients as the
job market begins to recover. But the magnitude of Decembers decline
suggests that, in addition to those former recipients who found work, many
more simply ran out of benefits. The Labour Force Survey indicates that
employment decreased by 2,600 in December. Therefore, it seems unlikely
that 40,100 EI recipients found jobs during that month. (...) Fewer than
half (47.8 %) of unemployed Canadians received EI benefits in December.

Mind
the gapNovember 9, 2009
Canada's monthly unemployment statistics have a significant gap
that must be filled. They do not reveal the number of people whose
employment-insurance benefits have expired and who are still out
of work. (...) People who have dropped off the unemployment rolls
- and are thus no longer included in the numbers - may have found
new jobs, but they may also have simply exhausted their benefits.
That shifts them into a much more harrowing situation where they
are likely facing dire financial straits and may be forced to consider
welfare. But we have no way of knowing if that is the case. (...)This
is not just an issue of concern to economists interested in crunching
the numbers to make their latest projections. It is about vital
data that can direct governments and social agencies in their design
of policies and their preparations to deliver resources to those
most in need. Without these numbers, for example, no one knows how
many people may be forced to seek welfare in the short term - a
key issue for the provinces and municipalities that fund and administer
the welfare system.
Source:Globe and Mail

Employment
Insurance data don't count those who run out
Without statistics on the number of jobless Canadians whose employment insurance
benefits have been exhausted, it's difficult to gauge how many are headed
for welfare.
By Tavia Grant
October 26, 2009In a country that dutifully tallies everything from egg sales to steel
wire production, one crucial piece of the economic puzzle is missing. When
Statistics Canada releases its monthly report on employment insurance today,
notable will be the lack of information on the number of unemployed who
have exhausted their EI benefits. This is frustrating the efforts of economists
and also complicating public policy, because how can governments and support
agencies respond if the full extent of the problem is unknown? We
don't know whether people are departing for new employment, or if they are
exhausting benefits and persisting in the unemployment pool  and that
is problematic, said Grant Bishop, an economist at Toronto-Dominion
Bank. There could definitely be better disclosure on the character
of EI. Mr. Bishop noted that this poor real-time gauge
of how many unemployed are without income has implications for how governments
plan the rates and delivery of social assistance. Currently no federal body
publishes timely statistics showing how often EI benefits run out or welfare
rates across the country, which economists expect to rise.

Employment
Insurance: A Tale of Two ProvincesPosted by Erin Weir
August 25, 2009
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times
It would be welcome news if the number of Canadians receiving Employment
Insurance (EI) benefits increased because of a proactive policy decision
to expand this program to combat the recession. In fact, the ongoing rise
in EI beneficiaries simply reflects the deterioration of Canadas labour
market. We are still in the worst of times. Every month, tens
of thousands more Canadians are laid off than can find new jobs.TIP : Click the link above and scroll
down the next page to see a table showing Employment Insurance coverage
across Canada in June 2009 (seasonally-adjusted figures). For each province
and for Canada, the table shows the number of EI recipients, the number
of people who are unemployed and the resulting percentage of EI coverage.
Where would you prefer to live - Ontario, where 41.3% of unemployed people
qualify for EI, or Newfoundland and Labrador, where EI covered 112.4% of
unemployed workers in June 2009? [No, this is not a typo.]
Source:Progressive Economics
Forum Blog
[ other
posts by Erin Weir ]
[ Progressive Economics Forum
]

Tories
would leave jobless workers behind
August 12, 2009
By Mike Savage
Liberal MP for DartmouthCole Harbour
and Marlene Jennings
Liberal MP for Notre-Dame-de-GrâceLachine
On June 17, Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff and Prime Minister Stephen
Harper agreed to form a working group that would look at reforms to employment
insurance to improve fairness in eligibility requirements for Canadians
laid off during this recession. (...) With 58 different [Employment Insurance
eligibility] standards across the country, there are communities where one
person is eligible for benefits while her neighbour across the street with
the same number of hours worked will not qualify. This makes no sense, as
the Prime Minister admitted back in June. This is why many of Canada's premiers
have supported the call for a single national standard for EI eligibility.
They are joined by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, the Canadian
Labour Congress, TD Bank economists and the C.D. Howe Institute, among others.

Marlene Jennings and Mike Savage are Liberal members of
the Employment Insurance Working Group.
Source:The Toronto Star

Premiers
Agree on EI Reforms and Call for a Retirement Income Summit
(PDF - 27K, 2 pages)
August 6, 2009
REGINA  Premiers agreed on the urgent need to modernize the Employment
Insurance system to support a modern workforce in a modern economy and called
for a national summit on retirement income
Source:
Council of the Federation
On December 5, 2003, Canadas Premiers proudly announced in Charlottetown
the creation of the Council of the Federation. It is a new institution for
a new era in collaborative intergovernmental relations. The Council of the
Federation was created by Premiers because they believe it is important
for provinces and territories to play a leadership role in revitalizing
the Canadian federation and building a more constructive and cooperative
federal system.

Related links:

This
time, Ottawa isn't the target
August 7, 2009
By Jim Coyle
(...) As they formally opened the Council of the Federation yesterday, Canada's
premiers had an uncharacteristically meaty agenda and unusually kind words
for their own federal government. Instead, the hottest blasts were aimed
at the United States and the protectionist Buy America initiatives there
that threaten Canadian access to those markets. (...) The premiers have
sketched out principles to modernize the employment insurance scheme, reviewed
stimulus spending of levels unimaginable when they met a year ago, and endorsed
McGuinty's call for a national summit on pensions.
Source:Toronto Star

Lorne
Gunter: The scam we call 'Employment Insurance'
August 7, 2009
By Lorne Gunter
There is almost nothing about Canada's Employment Insurance (EI) program
that is as it appears. Even its name is a dodge. The plan does not insure
against employment; that would be absurd. It insures against unemployment.
Yet, in keeping with the disingenuous nature of the program, the name was
changed to EI (from Unemployment Insurance) more than a decade ago in the
naive hope that somehow the superficial switch in branding would encourage
beneficiaries to find and keep jobs.
Source:National Post

There's
jobless, and officially joblessWhen Statscan issues its jobs data
today [see related link below],
it won't tally those who have given up or postponed their searchesBy Tavia Grant
August 7, 2009
(...) When Statistics Canada reports its monthly job count today, many unemployed
people (...) who have either postponed or given up their job search won't
be tallied. That's because people who haven't hunted for jobs in the past
month aren't counted as unemployed or as part of the labour force. The gap
between the actual unemployment rate and the official statistics is likely
to widen in the coming months, as more people give up their job search to
go back to school, or wait until jobs are more abundant, economists say.
Many more workers will settle for part-time jobs, even though they want
full-time positions. (...) When involuntary part-time workers are factored
into the equation, Canada's unemployment rate would have been 11.3 per cent
in June, according to Statscan's so-called R8 series on "underutilized"
labour, which is not seasonally adjusted. That's well above the 8.1-per-cent
level it showed in the same month last year, though down from the 12.4 per
cent it reached in March.
Source:Globe and Mail
[ Related link:Labour
Force Survey, July 2009- Statistics Canada, August 7, 2009
]

EI
benefits at record levels
Ontario, Alberta show biggest hikeJuly 29, 2009
The number of people receiving regular employment insurance benefits jumped
to the highest level on record in May, with Alberta and Ontario showing
the biggest increases, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
EI beneficiaries were up 9.2 per cent to 778,700 during the month, after
a 3.7 per cent rise in April, the federal agency said.
Source:Financial Post

Employment
Insurance (EI) Claims SurgeBy Erin Weir
July 28, 2009
The worst news in todays
Employment Insurance (EI) figures is that new benefit claims hit
a record high. Rising numbers of unemployed workers and hence EI beneficiaries
are an unsurprising result of a deteriorating labour market. However, the
increase the number of new EI claims suggests that the pace of deterioration
is worsening rather than easing. Despite signs of a nascent recovery of
economic output, todays figures suggest that Canadas job market
will remain grim for some time to come.

Canadas
EI benefits well below OECD average: study
Press Release
June 30, 2009
OTTAWAEmployment Insurance benefits in Canada are well below the OECD
average, says a new study released today by the Canadian Centre for Policy
Alternatives (CCPA). The study, by economist Lars Osberg, finds that in
terms of access, benefit duration, and income replacement levels, EI in
Canada falls far below most other OECD countries and below the levels of
Canadian unemployment insurance in past recessions.

Complete report:

Canadas
Declining Social Safety Net:
The Case for EI Reform (PDF - 592K, 28 pages)
June 2009
By Lars Osberg
"(...) Between October 2008 and May 2009, 363,000 Canadians lost their
jobs  and the OECD projects unemployment to rise to 9.8% in 2010.
In this global recession, the weakness of Canadas Employment Insurance
(EI) system has become a glaring federal policy omission. This study looks
at income protection for the unemployed, federally and elsewhere, and makes
a strong case for EI reforms." (Excerpt from the Executive Summary)

Source:Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan
research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice.
Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canadas leading progressive voices
in public policy debates.

Western
Premiers Agree on a Plan for EI Reform2009 Western Premiers' Conference
Dawson City, Yukon - June 17-19, 2009
Communique
Friday, June 19
DAWSON CITY  At the 2009 Western Premiers Conference, Premiers
will work in partnership with the federal government to make employment
insurance fair for all Canadians.They welcomed the appointment of the federal
working group on Employment Insurance (EI) and committed to making a joint
submission to the committee.
Source:Canadian Intergovernmental
Conference Secretariat

Provincial
welfare program under strainNumber of two-parent families collecting assistance up
77 per cent compared to April of last yearBy Justine Hunter
June 2, 2009
Just days after B.C. Premier Gordon Campbell launched a national campaign
to broaden Canada's employment insurance scheme, new statistics show his
provincial welfare program is under growing strain. And families are bearing
the brunt of the recession in B.C., the new provincial statistics on income
assistance show.

B.C.
Premier demands single EI standardBy Patrick Brethour
May 30, 2009
The federal government needs to overhaul a clearly discriminatory
employment insurance system to help the swelling ranks of the jobless in
Western Canada, says British Columbia Premier Gordon Campbell. The Premier
is adding his voice to the chorus pressing the federal government to rewrite
the rulebook for employment insurance, and to create a single national standard
for how long Canadians need to work before becoming eligible for payments.
Canadians are Canadians, and they should be treated equally,
he told The Globe and Mail. Right now, there are dramatic discrepancies
in the EI system, with those in areas of historically low unemployment having
to work more than twice as long to qualify for payments as those in regions
with the highest levels of joblessness. That means it's much more likely
for laid-off workers in such low-unemployment areas to fall short of qualifying
for EI, even though a similar worker in a more disadvantaged area would
receive payments.

Ottawa
and the provinces must extend a helping hand to workers
We need to eliminate regional discrepancies and co-operate to extend EI
benefitsBy Gordon Campbell (Premier of British Columbia)
May 29. 2009With all of the discussion these days about employment
insurance reforms, it is timely to consider affordable improvements that
will assist families and unemployed individuals who are struggling to get
through this global recession. First, we need to eliminate the regional
discrepancies in eligibility rules that are particularly unfair to Western
Canadians. (...) Second, we need to find an affordable way of extending
EI benefits to help workers who have either recently exhausted their benefits
or who are about to lose their EI income. This could be achieved through
a new cost-sharing partnership between the federal and provincial governments
that would redirect some provincial income assistance funding to help the
federal government fund extended EI benefits. (...) Provincial governments
can be part of the solution by offering to partner with the federal government
in extending individuals' maximum EI benefits. Instead of making income
assistance payments to those people, they could offer to transfer that funding
to the federal government to help fund the cost of extended EI benefits.
(...) The federal government and provinces should work in partnership to
do the best we can for all of Canada's workers, regardless of where they
live or are employed. They pay equivalent national taxes and all should
receive equivalent national benefits. We must unite in providing Canadians
more effective support as we move through these trying times.

Uninsured:
Why EI is Failing Working OntariansNews Release
Posted May 25, 2009
(...) In 2008, approximately 1 in 5 unemployed workers in Toronto were eligible
for EI. While unemployed workers were struggling to make ends meet, the
accumulated surplus of EI premiums soared to over $54 billion.

Source:Community Social Planning
Council of Toronto
The Community Social Planning Council of Toronto is committed to independent
social planning at the local and city-wide levels in order to improve the
quality of life for all people in Toronto. It is committed to diversity,
social and economic justice, and active citizen participation in all aspects
of community life.

Is
Canadas Employment Insurance Program Adequate? (PDF -
17K, 3 pages)
Press Release
April 30, 2009
TORONTO -- The sizeable discrepancy of Employment Insurance (EI) eligibility
requirements between regions must be addressed, according to a new report
by TD Economics. But its authors warn that any
reform must be balanced against undesirable effects such as the potential
for increased dependency on EI and longer-term costs. (...) Currently the
eligibility for and duration of EI benefits depends on the unemployment
rate in the region in which the unemployed worker resides. The number of
hours required to qualify for EI  known as the Variable Entrance Requirement
(VER) -- increases if the regional unemployment rate is in a lower range.
(...) In the immediate term, the report recommends flattening
the eligibility structure whereby individuals qualify with 560 hours in
all regions with less than 10 percent unemployment. Such a move would represent
a cost of $500 million per year to the program.

EI
Financing: We Told You SoPosted by Erin Weir
April 23, 2009
On the first of this month, I appeared before the Senates Standing
Committee on National Finance regarding the Employment Insurance (EI) provisions
of the 2009 Budget Implementation Act. The Senate recently posted the transcript
online. A fellow panellist was Michel Bédard,
former Chief Actuary of the EI Fund. Last
year, he and I appeared in the same panel before the same committee
regarding the 2008 Budget Implementation Act. We both argued then that,
if unemployment increased, the governments quasi-reserve of $2 billion
would quickly prove insufficient to maintain (let alone improve) EI benefits
without hiking premiums. Budget 2009 implicitly acknowledges that this concern
was valid. Specifically, it suggests that a further $4.5 billion will be
needed to freeze premiums for two years given higher unemployment.

Frayed
safety net for unemployed
Unequal access to jobless benefits worsens impact of `Great Recession'By Michael Mendelson, Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman
[ Caledon Institute of Social Policy
]
April 21, 2009
An additional 41,000 Canadians were out of work this March, bringing unemployment
close to one and a half million. This frightening number will almost certainly
keep climbing in the next several months. Bailouts and building projects
will help, but the essential program for most jobless Canadians remains
the Employment Insurance system. The program was introduced in the wake
of the Great Depression and got us through many difficult times since, most
recently the recessions of 1982 and 1990. Is the program up to the challenge
of the Great Recession of 2009? In the 1982 recession, jobless benefits
helped 76 per cent of the unemployed. During the 1990 recession, fully 83
per cent received benefits. Today coverage is down to 43 per cent 
half of what it was in 1990.

Canada's
Shrinking Safety Net:
Employment Insurance in the Great Recession (PDF - 41K, 5 pages)
Michael Mendelson, Ken Battle and Sherri Torjman
April 2009Belt-tightening changes made to Employment Insurance
in the 1990s have decimated the programs coverage over the years and
substantially reduced the value of payments. Today only three in ten unemployed
Canadians receive regular EI benefits in contrast to eight in ten in the
last recession, in 1990. There is a gender gap in coverage, and it has widened.
Both eligibility for benefits and the maximum duration of benefits vary
widely from community to community and province to province, leading to
unfair treatment of the unemployed. Caledon proposes
several immediate changes to strengthen EI, including: a uniform set of
rules governing entrance requirements and length of benefits, increasing
the earnings-replacement rate from the current 55 to 70 percent of insurable
earnings, and setting premium rates higher in good economic times and lower
in bad times.Source:Caledon
Institute of Social Policy

Jobless?
Why You Might Not Get Employment Insurance
These days, far fewer unemployed are eligible.
'Reforms' fattened surpluses, failed to prepare for bad times say critics.By Tom Sandborn
February 19, 2009
If you are one of the 129,000 Canadian workers who lost a job last month,
maybe you take comfort that all those employment insurance payments were
deducted from your previous paycheques. Now you can count on insurance payments
to get you through tough times, right? Maybe not. The EI safety net features
a lot more gaps than it did a decade and a half ago. By some measures, only
42 per cent of Canada's unemployed workers are receiving EI payments, roughly
half the percentage covered during the late 1980s. Just when far more Canadians
are poised to need it, the nation's unemployment insurance scheme is broken,
say a growing chorus of critics.
Source:The Tyee

Jobless
rate shows EI reform needed
Editorial
February 7, 2009
With the loss of 129,000 jobs across Canada in January  a record for
a single month  the spotlight has returned to the federal stimulus
package and whether it goes far enough to address the current crisis. The
$35 billion package, released as part of the federal budget on Jan. 27,
contains some funding to help the jobless by enhancing skills training and
extending Employment Insurance benefits for an extra five weeks. Unfortunately,
however, a majority of unemployed Canadians are not eligible for Employment
Insurance, often because they work on contract or part-time or in seasonal
jobs that don't last long enough for them to qualify.

Flaherty
faces five choices on EI
January 12, 2009
By Carol Goar
Canada's employment insurance system is outdated, inequitable, stingy and
at serious risk of insolvency in a protracted economic downturn. The dilemma
facing Finance Minister Jim Flaherty, should he decide to fix it, is figuring
out which problem to tackle first. He is not short of advice. Business lobbyists,
union officials, municipal leaders, economists and social activists have
all put forward their prescriptions in the run-up to this month's budget.
But Flaherty can't say yes to everybody. Even if he were to make significant
investment in jobless benefits  say $3 billion  he'd have to
set priorities. The damage done by 30 years of cutting and dismantling can't
be undone in one budget. The finance minister has five basic options...

Employment
Insurance in desperate need of repair
January 9, 2009
By Carol Goar
For the first time since the Great Depression, Canada is heading into a
serious recession with one of its economic stabilizers badly broken. Stabilizers
are government programs that work automatically to moderate swings in the
economic cycle. The three main ones are employment insurance, which provides
a cushion for people who lose their jobs; welfare, which keeps people from
hitting rock bottom; and income taxes, which decrease when people's earnings
shrink. The one that is broken is employment insurance (although welfare
is in sorry shape). If forecasters are right, 200,000 Canadians will lose
their jobs this year. If current trends continue, just 108,000 will qualify
for employment insurance benefits and 82,000 will actually receive them.

Women shut out of Employment Insurance:
Study
November 22, 2007
By Monica Townson & Kevin Hayes
TORONTO  Most women are getting shut out of Employment Insurance (EI)
coverage in Canada, says a study by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives
(CCPA). The gap between men's and womens EI coverage is significant:
40 percent of unemployed men received EI benefits in 2004 while only 32
percent of unemployed women did. Essentially, two in every three working
women who pay into EI dont receive a single penny in benefits if they
lose their jobs, says CCPA Research Associate Monica Townson, who
co-authored Women and The Employment Insurance Program with Kevin Hayes.

Source:Canadian Centre for
Policy Alternatives
The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives is an independent, non-partisan
research institute concerned with issues of social and economic justice.
Founded in 1980, the CCPA is one of Canadas leading progressive voices
in public policy debates.

Employment
Insurance short-changes women, study suggests
November 21, 2007
Canadian women are being unfairly short-changed by the country's Employment
Insurance system, which was made more restrictive a decade ago and now boasts
a multibillion-dollar surplus, a study concludes. The study for the left-leaning
Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, to be released today, finds the
qualification requirements for EI have left many women who lose their jobs
out of pocket despite having paid their fair share of premiums.
Source:Toronto Star

Oldie Goldies:

Employment
Insurance in Canada: History, Structure and Issues
By Jay Makarenko
September 22, 2009
Employment insurance in Canada is a legacy of the Great Depression,
and remains a pillar of the nations modern social programs.
Since its creation in 1940, the program has undergone many significant
evolutions, both philosophically and structurally. Moreover, debate
over the program has remained constant throughout its existence,
and is still present in contemporary political discourse. This feature
provides an introduction to the history, administration, and issues
relating to Employment Insurance in Canada.
---Table of Contents:
* History of Employment Insurance in Canada - Historical overview
of public employment insurance* Administration of the Employment Insurance Program - Laws,
bureaucracies, processes, and finances of employment insurance* Issues Concerning Employment Insurance in Canada - Debates
on the philosophy and structure of employment insurance* Sources and Links to More Information - List of article
sources and links to more on this topic

Source:Mapleleafweb
Maple Leaf Web is a non-profit, non-partisan Canadian political
education web-site that aims to provide educators, students and
the attentive public with a credible source for political education
and information.NOTE : As of Jan. 17, 2011, after 11 years
of publishing Canadian political educational materials on the Internet,
Mapleleafweb.com will no longer be actively maintained.

Back to the Future?(Links to related TV clips that I found
quite by accident
as I was looking for something else on the CBC
Digital Archives page):

The
exhaustees (TV clip, 6:10)Broadcast Date: Nov. 4, 1982
With no work to be found amidst sky-high unemployment rates in 1982,
Jim Lees reluctantly joins a club that is welcoming thousands of
new members a month. "Exhaustees," as the government calls
them, are people whose unemployment benefits have run out. From
a former salary of $2,300 monthly, Lees is now applying for welfare
benefits of just $800 to support his wife and two daughters. In
this CBC-TV clip, his wife Wendy admits that while it bothers her
to be forced onto welfare, she isn't in a position to refuse it.

Unemployment
hits Windsor autoworkers (TV clip, 13:55)Broadcast Date: Jan. 5, 1958
Frank Blair has been without a job for eight months. In his hometown
of Windsor, Ont., the father of two (soon to be three) is not alone:
some 21,000 members of the local labour force are out of work in
late 1957, half of them workers in the city's idled auto plants.

Links to
more historical resources about UNemployment Insurance from
the CBC Digital Archives:
* What is social security? (In 1945, a panel of military men and
women discuss unemployment insurance as part of Canada's social
security system.)
* On the Dole: Employment Insurance in Canada
* So you need to collect UI?
* UI gets richer in 1971
* Gainfully unemployed
* The pogey police
* Unemployment reaches all-time high
* A Maritime way of life?
* Forget Commission seeks UI reform

From the
Task Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults:

Time
for a Fair Deal: Report of the Task Force on
Modernizing Income Security for Working-Age Adults
(PDF file - 282K, 67 pages)
May 2006
(...) Recommendation 1:
The Task Force believes that Employment Insurance is and should
remain the primary program for delivering income support to workers
who are temporarily unemployed. The federal government should reform
EI to address the significant decline in coverage of the unemployed
and the related decline in access to employment supports and training
offered under EI-Part II.(...)

Source:Task
Force on Modernizing Income Security for Working Age Adults ("MISWAA")MISWAA was formed in the fall of 2004 by the Toronto City Summit
Alliance, a broad-based coalition of civic leaders in the Toronto
region, and by St. Christopher House, a multi-service neighbourhood
centre that works with low-income people in Toronto. The Task Force
is a diverse group made-up of over fifty experts and leaders from
major employers, policy institutes, labour unions, academia, community
organizations, advocacy groups, foundations and governments, as
well as individuals with first-hand knowledge of income security
programs.
- incl. links to : In the News · Press Releases ·
Task Force and Working Group Members · Contact Us ·
Papers · Frequently Asked Questions

Unemployment
benefits expire as Congress debates extension
Lawmakers are likely to take up the issue when they return from spring break
next week. The sticking point is how to pay for an extension.By Clement Tan
April 6, 2010
As unemployment benefits expired Monday for tens of thousands of jobless
workers, Democrats and Republicans renewed their haggling over whether to
vote for an extension when Congress returns from its spring break next week.
At the heart of the dispute is whether the extension should be offset by
spending cuts, as Republicans are demanding, or whether it constitutes an
emergency, as Democrats say. The expiration means 212,000 unemployed people
will lose benefits this week, according to figures provided by the National
Employment Law Project.

EditorialA
federal balancing act
Congress won't resolve the federal deficit problem by arguing over emergency
spending programs aimed at spurring the economy. The real problems are far
larger.April 18, 2010
Call it Congress' version of "lather, rinse, repeat." Last week,
lawmakers approved a short-term extension of unemployment benefits after
overcoming yet another GOP filibuster, the third such extension since December.
The extension lasts only until early June, so Congress may soon be going
through the same routine again. Republicans object to borrowing money to
finance the extra benefits, while Democrats refuse to offset the additional
spending by cutting other parts of the budget.

National Employment Law
Project
The National Employment Law Project (NELP) responds (to worker insecurity
and inequality) by working to restore the promise of economic opportunity
in the 21st century economy. (...) We partner with strong advocacy networks,
grounded in the full range of stakeholders - grassroots groups and national
organizations, worker centers and unions, policymakers and think tanks.

NELP
Issues: Unemployment Insurance
In an increasingly volatile economy, working families need a strong unemployment
insurance program - one that is there in hard times to help them pay the
bills and find new jobs that meet their needs and aspirations. However,
the unemployment insurance safety net has failed to keep pace with the changing
labor force, especially the growth in women, part-time and low-wage workers.
In response, policymakers in over half the states have adopted significant
reforms in recent years to modernize their unemployment insurance (UI) programs.

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